The invention relates to machine tool control software. More specifically, the field of the invention is that of machine tool control software for object oriented machine tool control software and the operation of machine tool control software.
An object oriented machine tool control system may provide real-time machine tool software system control that isolates system responsibilities into classes that permit a machine tool manufacturer or system integrator to manage complexity and change. One example of a machine tool control system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,933, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. The system of the '933 patent allows different systems to be created from a core set of procedures without redesigning or making massive software changes.
Engineers changing a control system of the '933 patent may easily make changes to the system because they do not need to be experts on the entire system to make a modification to a single component in a class. One change does not have a ripple effect of change throughout the system. Portions of the system that are most likely to change such as the user interface and device drivers are separated from the Kernel. These components are more accessible to change through PLC programs, customizations to the Machine class and addition to or modification of operator programs.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a motion control system is provided for a machine tool system. In an example of the present disclosure, the motion control system includes a generalized kinematics library which may model various machine tool systems. In a further example, multiple instances of the generalized kinematics library are generated to provide data for the machine tool system or other machine tool systems.
In a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system to machine a part is provided. The method comprising the steps of contacting the part with a tool and moving the tool relative to the part from a first position to a second position while the tool remains in contact with the part. The tool interpolating through a machine singularity point of the machine tool system.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for determining position information for a plurality of moveable axes of a machine tool system to machine a part is provided. The method comprising the steps of providing a cascading method accepting a plurality of different tool position input types; receiving a first tool position, the first tool position corresponding to one of the plurality of different input types; and determining with the cascading method the positional information based on the received first tool position.
In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system to machine a part, the machine tool system having a plurality of rotatable axes. The method comprising the steps of contacting the part with a tool at a first position; identifying a second position to move the tool; and selecting a shortest angular traverse solution for each of the plurality of rotatable axes from a plurality of possible solutions for each of the plurality of rotatable axes.
In yet a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system to machine a part, the machine tool system having a plurality of rotatable axes including a tilt axis. The method comprising the steps of contacting the part with a tool at a first position; identifying a second position to move the tool; and selecting a first solution for each the plurality of rotatable axes from a plurality of possible solutions for each of the plurality of rotatable axes based on a specified tilt axis preference. The first solution having a tilt angle for the tilt axis which satisfies the tilt axis preference.
In still another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system to machine a part, the machine tool system having a plurality of moveable axes. The method comprising the steps of contacting the part with a tool at a first position; identifying a second position to move the tool; and determining a plurality of interpolated positions from the first position to the second position with a two stage interpolation method.
In still yet another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus for machining a part with at least one tool. The apparatus comprising a frame; a moveable support supported by and moveable relative to the frame, the moveable support supporting the part; a machine tool spindle supported by the frame and moveable relative to the part, the machine tool spindle adapted to couple the at least one tool, the moveable support and the machine tool spindle including a plurality of moveable axes; and a motion control system operably coupled to the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system executing the machining of the part through the controlled movement of the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system contacts the part with a first tool at a first position and moves the first tool relative to the part from the first position to a second position while the first tool remains in contact with the part. The first tool interpolating through a machine singularity point of the machine tool system.
In further still another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus for machining a part with at least one tool. The apparatus comprising a frame; a moveable support supported by and moveable relative to the frame, the moveable support supporting the part; a machine tool spindle supported by the frame and moveable relative to the part, the machine tool spindle adapted to couple the at least one tool, the moveable support and the machine tool spindle including a plurality of moveable axes; and a motion control system operably coupled to the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system executing the machining of the part through the controlled movement of the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool spindle and the moveable support, wherein the motion control system contacts the part with a first tool at a first position and moves the first tool relative to the part from the first position to a second position by selecting a shortest angular traverse solution for each of a plurality of rotatable axes of the plurality of moveable axes from a plurality of possible solutions for each of the plurality of rotatable axes.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus for machining a part with at least one tool is provided. The apparatus comprising a frame; a moveable support supported by and moveable relative to the frame, the moveable support supporting the part; a machine tool spindle supported by the frame and moveable relative to the part, the machine tool spindle adapted to couple the at least one tool, the moveable support and the machine tool spindle including a plurality of moveable axes; and a motion control system operably coupled to the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system executing the machining of the part through the controlled movement of the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system contacts the part with a first tool at a first position and moves the first tool relative to the part from the first position to a second position by selecting a first solution for each of a plurality of rotatable axes of the plurality of moveable axes from a plurality of possible solutions for each of the plurality of rotatable axes based on a specified tilt axis preference, the first solution having a tilt angle which satisfies the tilt axis preference for a tilt axis of the plurality of the moveable axes.
In still another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus for machining a part with at least one tool is provided. The apparatus comprising a frame; a moveable support supported by and moveable relative to the frame, the moveable support supporting the part; a machine tool spindle supported by the frame and moveable relative to the part, the machine tool spindle adapted to couple the at least one tool, the moveable support and the machine tool spindle including a plurality of moveable axes; and a motion control system operably coupled to the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system executing the machining of the part through the controlled movement of the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The motion control system contacts the part with a first tool at a first position and moves the first tool relative to the part from the first position to a second position by determining a plurality of interpolated positions from the first position to the second position with a two stage interpolation method.
In a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system to machine a part is provided. The method comprising the steps of receiving a machine configuration corresponding to the machine tool system, the machine configuration identifying a plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool system and a plurality of interdependencies therebetween; generating based on the machine configuration and a generalized kinematics library a virtual kinematics machine; receiving input data corresponding to a shape of the part; and generating positions for the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool system based on the virtual kinematics machine and the input data.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system having a plurality of moveable axes to machine a part is provided. The method comprising the steps of receiving input data corresponding to a shape of the part; generating a first virtual kinematics machine based on a machine configuration of the machine tool system and a generalized kinematics library, the first virtual kinematics machine generating positions for the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool system based on the input data; and generating a second virtual kinematics machine based on the machine configuration of the machine tool system and the generalized kinematics library, the second virtual kinematics machine generating position information for a moveable portion of the machine tool system.
In yet still another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of programming multiple machine tool systems with a software controller is provided. The method comprising the steps of providing a generalized kinematics library accessible by the software controller; generating a first virtual kinematics machine having a first configuration corresponding to a first machine tool system, the first virtual kinematics machine based on the generalized kinematics library; and generating a second virtual kinematics machine having a second configuration corresponding to a second machine tool system, the second virtual kinematics machine based on the generalized kinematics library.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an apparatus for machining a part with at least one tool is provided. The apparatus comprising a frame; a moveable support supported by and moveable relative to the frame, the moveable support supporting the part; a machine tool spindle supported by the frame and moveable relative to the part, the machine tool spindle adapted to couple the at least one tool, the moveable support and the machine tool spindle including a plurality of moveable axes; and a motion control system operably coupled to the machine tool spindle and the moveable support, the motion control system executing the machining of the part through the controlled movement of the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool spindle and the moveable support. The controlled movement of the plurality moveable axes is provided by an instance of a generalized kinematics library. The instance including a plurality of virtual axes which correspond to the plurality of moveable axis.
In still a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of configuring a software controller of a machine tool system is provided. The method comprising the steps of providing a generalized kinematics library accessible by the software controller; receiving information regarding a configuration of the machine tool system, the machine tool system having a plurality of orthogonal moveable axes; generating an instance of the generalized kinematics library which corresponds to the machine tool system based on the received information regarding the configuration of the machine tool system; and controlling a movement of the plurality of orthogonal moveable axes through the instance of the generalized kinematics library.
In a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for controlling the movement of a plurality of moveable axes of a machine tool system to machine a part is provided. The computer executable instructions comprising a generalized kinematics library; instructions to generate an instance of the generalized kinematics library based on a configuration of the machine tool system; instructions to provide input data to the instance of the generalized kinematics library; and instructions to get output data from the generalized kinematics library, the output data being related to the movement of the plurality of moveable axes.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.